Negative emotion as predictor of relapse in persons with schizophrenia living in board and care homes

Negative emotion exhibited by the board and care providers toward residents, resident behavior, medication dosage, medication noncompliance, and gender were used to predict resident relapse over a 6-month period. Relapse was defined as movement to a higher, more intensive level of care. Eighty-four residents with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia disorder, living in board and care homes in the Fresno, California, area participated in the study. Board and care providers were interviewed using Kreisman's Patient Rejection Scale and Gurel's Behavior Rating Scale. Neither patient rejection nor resident behavior was predictive of relapse; however, medication noncompliance did predict relapse with the male residents and lower medication dose predicted relapse with the female residents. Rejection of the patient by the board and care operator was found to correlate .73 and .64 with negative behavior of the male and female residents respectively. Implications of these results for expressed emotion research were discussed.